


Finding us

by SparklingFerret



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Children can be mean, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining, Self-Esteem Issues, Soulmarks, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, mentions of past bullying, slight - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25677076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklingFerret/pseuds/SparklingFerret
Summary: Akaashi Keiji, a boy affected by the exclusion of his peers, decides to start over in a high school in Tokyo, which leads him on a direct collision course with his soulmate. But are things really ever that simple?Or, in a world where soulmarks exist to help you find your other half, Akaashi Keiji isn't as lucky with his mark.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Finding us

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all of y'all lovelies! This idea struck me last night, and now, 12 hours later, I've managed to write it down in between sleep, work and everything else. I didn't have the time to read it through thoroughly enough, so i apologize for any mistakes, but I just needed to get it out of my head for a bit, so I can focus on some of my other stories.
> 
> I already have a general idea of where I want this to head, but I'm open to any suggestions or ideas. I'll also be updating the tags and characters as I go, as I don't 100% know who will butt their head into the plot of this story, so keep an eye on the tags!
> 
> I hope you'll all enjoy this!

You would think that in a world where soulmates were the norm, finding them would be easy. A mark representing your other half would literally show up on a part of your body at the age of 15, and the first time you see them, it’d practically resonate within your body and you’d just  _ know _ . But despite this, a considerable amount of the world’s population still went through their lives not ever finding their soulmate.

A lot of factors played into this, and you’d never truly know the reason why if you never met. They could’ve died before you met or you could just risk never meeting them at all. There was no guarantee for anything, except, that if you did meet them, you’d know with every part of your being. Wholeheartedly and completely.

This, of course, didn’t mean that you’d fit together at all. you might have an abusive soulmate, in which case it was just better to get away as soon as possible. You could also decide that you aren’t right for each other and therefore go each your own way, never to meet again. Or maybe your other half is already happily committed and have settled down, in which case you’re just out of luck. Truth be told, it was rarely the reality that all the movies and media portrayed, that parents sang goodnight about. Yet most everyone still hoped. Hoped to find their perfect half to fall in love with.

Still, yet another option could be that the two halves just aren’t meant to be romantically involved, and should instead just settle into a platonic relationship.

A friendship, so to say. Unbreakable in its strength.

That last option, is what Keiji hoped for. There wasn’t a particular reason for him not wanting to have a romantic soulmate, it just didn’t seem viable to him. He hadn’t ever really had friends. At least, not any in the later years. The girls just giggled when they stared at him and all the boys called him ‘pretty boy’ and ‘girly’.

He’d asked his mom, but she’d just told him that they were jealous of him and his smarts and looks. He hadn’t really understood why at the age of 8, but now, almost 7 years of bullying and loneliness later, it made much more sense to him.

And when his mark had appeared, it’d only made things harder for him. It’d been a sunday, so he hadn’t gotten around to checking for his mark until a bit after lunch, when his mother softly reminded him that today was the day with a surprise birthday lunch at a restaurant. And then when they’d come home at around 14 o’clock, he went to the bathroom to look for it in privacy.

Keiji wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but one golden bird footprint curved along the whole left side of his ribcage certainly wasn’t it.

~*~

He’d since figured out that the prints belonged to some kind of owl species and, considering the sheer size of it, around 20 cm from talon to talon, it was most likely from The great Horned Owl, whatever that meant about his soulmate.

He chose to not think too much about it, reasoning that he’d know the person it belonged to as soon as he saw them. So, instead, he decided to focus on his school.

Keiji was now at the point in his life when choosing high school was important, but all he could think about was how much he wanted to get away from his peers.

Maybe that’d help him make friends, going to a school where he knew no one and could start over. Practically create a new identity from the bottom. Keiji thought to himself that it’d be best for him, so he brought it up with his mother.

“Are you sure, Keiji?” she asked, peering closely at his expression. Even though he barely ever made faces or changed his expression, somehow, she’d always been able to read him as easily as an open book. He supposed it was a mother’s intuition.

“I know you don’t do well socially at that school, but wouldn’t an entirely new school setting be too much too soon?” she seemed genuine in her question, not disapproving as he’d overheard some of his classmates speak of their parents.

He looked down at the application form, sure in his choice, “Yeah, mom, I’m absolutely sure that I need this. I just… I need to get away from all of them and their words.” She stared at him a bit longer before sighing, “I knew you wanted to choose a high school further away, but you need to know that you’ll have to wake up earlier to make it on time, and make sure to do your studies while on the train, alright?” She stared at him with a serious look in her eyes.

Keiji gulped, swallowing the sudden bump in his throat, eyes welling slightly up with tears, “I know mom, I’ll make sure to study on the train. Thank you so much,” he stumbled into her arms, shoulders sagging in relief when she enclosed her arms tightly around his.

“Of course, baby, you know I’d do anything for you,” she said, “Just promise me you’ll be careful, the train ride by itself is almost an entire hour.” Her arms tightened slightly around him.

He smiled, softly whispering “Of course mom, anything for you.”

~*~

The application process was easily done. He knew he had the grades for it, considering he’d only had his mother and his studies for company for so long. Keiji still wanted to visit the high school, though. Just to make sure it’d be an okay school.

So, during the extended weekend assigned for visiting potential high schools, he and his mother took the train route he’d be using to Tokyo and walked the 10 minutes to Fukurōdani Academy. Keiji had already learned the route step for step, but his mother still felt it prudent to walk with him this first time.

“So,” she said, “Are you excited for your first view of this place?” Her brilliant smile rubbed off on Keiji, eliciting him to smile softly himself.

Keiji nodded, “Yes, my heartbeat is faster. I can almost hear it myself,” he laughed.

His mother smiled back at him, “That’s good. This is important for you and I’m glad that you’re enjoying it already. Obviously, this will be the best for you.”

“Yeah,” he stated. “Oh, looks like we’re here already.” Keiji looked around and couldn’t help the hard exhale that escaped him. The academy grounds were gorgeous and everything already looked amazing to him.

“Hm,” he heard his mother laugh, “This is really something else, but I suppose that’s what happens when you’re located in the capitol,” they both shared a smile at that.

His mother looked away and when he followed her gaze he saw a couple of kids his age standing around a teacher and a couple of older students.

He turned his head back to his mother and saw her eyes tearing up, “Oh no, mom, it’s just…”

“Aww my big Keiji baby, you’re so big already, I can’t believe this is it,” she grabbed ahold of his arms and practically dragged him into one of her big hugs. Keiji felt her bury her face in his hair, before she took on a more mischievous tone, “Have a great day now, dear.”

Keiji drew back suddenly, staring hard into her eyes, noticing the obvious glimmer there. He peered disapprovingly at her, “You did that on purpose. They’ll never take me seriously now.” He practically glared at the way she just continued on ‘sobbing’ with her back turned to the group.

“That’s what you get for choosing a high school so far away,” she reached forward and held his face in between her hands before kissing him on the forehead. “Have fun and give them hell,” she said before stepping back and practically pushing him towards the group now openly staring at them.

Keiji felt his face warm up with shame, but kept his head up anyways, waving bye to his mom before he went over to the group.

“Akaashi Keiji?” he heard the teacher ask when he stopped in front of her. Looking around at the others he just uttered a simple, “Yes ma’am.”

When he’d finished his study of the other potentially new classmates and settled his gaze on her, she said only, “Excellent, then all of you are here, and on time, too. My name is Suzuki Kana, but you may address me as Miss Suzuki,” turning around she continued, “Let’s start the tour then.”

~*~

After telling them of the classes they offered and in which buildings each room could be found, Miss Suzuki let them eat lunch outside in the good weather, telling them to feel free to intermingle before she’d continue on with the extracurricular activities.

Sitting down with three of the other boys, he felt overwhelmed by the ease at which they fell into conversation.

A boy with light-brown hair and grey eyes instantly told them his name was Saito Nikko and asked them where they were from. Kimura Ryo, a black haired boy with brown eyes, proudly proclaimed that he lived only 8 minutes away from the school, while Fujita Hoshiko with the dark-brown and curly hair exasperatedly told them he had to bike 15 minutes to get here. Saito expressed his apologies and said he only had a 10 minute walk, but in the opposite way from Kimura.

Keiji had just been listening silently, but startled a bit when Kimura asked him how far away he lived. Settling in his seat, he told them his name was Akaashi Keiji, that he lived in the Saitama Prefecture and altogether his travel time was around an hour and 10 minutes.

“WHAT?!”, “That’s so far!”, “Then you have to get up super early!” they all exclaimed at the same time. Keiji felt his eyes widen at their sudden outburst, before shrugging, “I don’t mind, Fukurōdani Academy is where I wanted to attend.”

Saito’s eyes seemed to brighten at that, “Oh yeah, me too! It’s because of their volleyball history right? You know, I saw one of their matches a couple of months ago, and they had this fantastic 1st year player replace the wing spiker in the middle of the game.” He seemed like he was about to continue talking, but Fujita quickly broke in, “Yes yes, I saw him too! He was absolutely brilliant at it, even though he was only there for a few points. I can’t really remember his name, though,” Fujita glanced at the others.

Saito quickly dug his phone out of his pocket, “I took a video of some of the match, so I’ll just check it out real quick.”

While Saito was busy scrolling through his pictures for the video, Kimura glanced at Keiji questioningly. He probably noticed Keiji’s confused face.

“Not really one for volleyball, huh? Then what sport do you like, Akaashi-san?” Kimura and Fujita both waited for him to answer, though Fujita looked a bit more excited to see the video of the volleyball match Saito was looking for.

Keiji glanced shyly away, not really sure how to answer. “To be honest, I don’t really watch any sports, and I barely played sports in Junior High or Elementary except for Gym class,” When Keiji looked back to the others, he saw that all three were looking at him with identical looks of horror on their face.

_ ‘Oh no _ ,’ he thought, ‘ _ I’ve ruined everything already _ .’ Now he was just waiting for the mocking attitudes and slurs.

Saito was the first to break the silence, though what he said wasn’t what Keiji expected.

“I’ve gotta find that video now, we can’t just leave you not knowing anything about the wonderful world of volleyball,” and then he turned back to aggressively looking through his phone.

When he found the video, the others still hadn’t moved a muscle and their stares had started to make Keiji uncomfortable, causing him to start squirmin in his seat.

“FOUND IT!”

All of them startled at Saito’s loud yell, which also resulted in Miss Suzuki sending them admonishing glares from across the courtyard.

Voice lower, he showed them the video of the apparently phenomenal 1st year student, “His swing is strong I wouldn’t be surprised if he reached top spiker in a couple of years, and it’s so precise too!” Keiji had to admit, while looking at the video, that the boy certainly was impressive. Even though Keiji knew absolutely nothing about volleyball, he could see that the movements of number 13 Bokuto Kōtarō was smooth and both calculated and natural, if that was even possible. During the points he scored, he seemed to spike the ball at the weakest links in the other teams defence.

Keiji might not know much about volleyball, hell he knew approximately zero things about it, but he knew that number 13 Bokuto Kōtarō made him want to play volleyball during his extracurriculars.

~*~

Eventually, after lunch had finished and they’d already made their way through the locations of where some of the extracurricular activities took place, Miss Suzuki led them to the gym halls. Apparently, Fukurōdani Academy was so well-accomplished in sports, especially volleyball and basket, that the two sports had each their own gym hall. Just the thought of it made Akaashi question everything about this place.

“Oh!” exclaimed Miss Suzuki, “It sounds like the volleyball club is training right now, perhaps Coach Yamiji will allow us to watch for a bit and maybe those of you interested can ask some questions for the team,” She smiled as she told them to wait outside while she went in to ask the coach.

Saito and Fujita dragged Kimura over to Keiji and they all gathered close, the former two practically vibrating on their toes. Kimura just looked sort of apathetic about it all. Keiji couldn’t help but hope his expression was the same.

“I can’t believe we might get to meet the team already before we’ve even passed the entrance exam,” Saito said, looking specifically at Fujita. “Yeah, I know! I seriously hope that number 13 is there, I want to see his spike up close so bad.”

Before they could continue, Miss Suzuki returned, telling them that the coach had allowed them to come in, but only if they were respectful and orderly. Keiji glanced at the three boys next to him, seeing all of them straighten up and look ready to be at attention. He wondered how long that’d last.

Shaking his head slightly, he followed the teacher inside and couldn’t really contain the anticipation boiling in the bottom of his gut. Why was he excited like this?

Following the teacher to stand in a line at the wall, he peered out at the players on the two courts, only to frown slightly the longer and more intensely he looked. ‘ _ Huh _ ,’ Keiji thought, ‘ _ It looks like _ …’

“Aww,” he heard Fujita exclaim to his right, “It looks like number 13 isn’t here. I wonder where he is, then?”

Keiji glanced at Fujita and the others out of the corner of his eyes, noticing their identical looks of disappointment, though Kimura looked to be trying to hide it. He huffed softly, knowing he’d at least kept his expression cool and clear this time, however disappointed he truly felt.

They continued watching the practice until Coach Yamiji allowed the team a short break to introduce themselves to the visitors and to answer a few questions. Almost instantly Saito’s hand went up along with a few others. He was the third question picked, and he immediately asked where number 13 was.

Coach Yamiji just shook his head, “Bokuto decided that getting into a fight with some other students was a good idea, so currently he’s spending the next couple of weeks in detention helping the cleaning staff after school,” the coach looked to the next raised hand, “Anyways, what’s your question?”

And Keiji was zoned out, too busy thinking thoughts of Bokuto to listen.

~*~

When the tour was finished and the teacher sent them all on their way, telling them she hoped to see them in the next 1st year classes, the four boys decided to exchange phone numbers to keep in contact, as all of them wanted to take the entrance exams in 2 weeks. They parted ways and Keiji made his way to the train station.

His head was still filled with thoughts of volleyball, his new friends and, most concerningly, Bokuto Kōtarō. Keiji honestly had no reasonable explanation for that last one, as he’d never actually met the guy, only seen him once on a video. A video he’d made Saito send to the group chat so he could save it and watch it repeatedly whenever he wanted, but nevertheless. It made no sense.

Perhaps his skills had just impressed Keiji that much?

Shaking his head he heard his phone ringing, and, seeing the caller ID was his mom’s, picked it up, “Hey mom, we just finished the tour, so I’m arriving at the train station right now.”

“Oh, that sounds great, honey, I have a bit more work to do, so you might even be home before me. Could you be a sweetheart and get started on dinner for me and then you can tell me all about you day after?”

Keiji glanced at the train station clock. Only 1 more minute until his train arrived. “Sure, I’ll start cutting the vegetables once I’m home.”

He could almost hear his mother’s smile on the phone, “Thank you, darling, I’ll try to hurry home. See ya!” He barely managed to answer before she’d hung up. Pocketing his phone he glanced up in time to see the train arrive and board it, before settling in to a 50 minute ride with a book from his bag.

Groaning lowly, he tried to rid his head of thoughts of the black haired number 13 and instead focus on his book.

~*~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much reading and please consider leaving a comment, it really helps in keeping me inspired! xx


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